


Chemistry Gone Wrong

by ultraradiance (greisful)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Humour, One direction AU, Pre-Zayn One Direction, Romance, Sarcasm, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 20:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7005337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greisful/pseuds/ultraradiance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p><br/>Zayn's pissed off about the fact that he has to escort me everywhere until I get better.<br/>Oh, I'm sorry, please, let me feel bad for you because you have to escort someone who you've temporarily blinded (that would be me).</p>
  <p>Someone explain to me how this boy got into Advanced Chemistry.</p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. What Started It All

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  banner by &thereshegoes @ 1DFF proboards

The number one rule of chemistry is that you're always wearing your protective goggles.

Of course, there's the other equipment like your apron/lab coat and depending on the substance, gloves. You especially have to wear the goggles.

The second thing is that when you're dealing with substances that when combined in the wrong way could potentially explode and destroy things, you keep the container as far from you as possible.

The last thing you want to do when working with something that could blind you, destroy your sinuses, burn your face off, kill you or cause you damage in any way is put the flask or beaker that it's in, right in front of your fucking face.

And as any person that even wants to enter a lab, let alone become a chemist knows, you wash your hands before and after you do an experiment. No food or drinks allowed and hair tied back. And most importantly, you have to have permission to enter said lab otherwise you stay out.

Now, you know these things, and I know these things (I would have to in order to tell you everything) so why, do you ask, did I think it would be a good idea to take off my goggles after an experiment went horribly wrong, and started bubbling in a questionable manner. I'm wondering that myself because that is the single most idiotic thing that I could've ever done.

I should be kicked out of this chemistry class for taking off my goggles. At the same time though, I hope I'm not because I really want to be a scientist.

Actually, no, I should not be kicked out of this class, stupid arse Zayn should be kicked out of chemistry because he's the one that got me into this mess in the first place. I'm not the one who decided to just screw it all and start pouring every single substance sitting on the table into one beaker because hey, it's fun. I was the one trying to stop Mr Moron from doing that, I'm the innocent bystander.

Apparently I'm the only one who seems to think so in this situation if the amount of whinging coming from Lord Prathead is anything to go by. You'd think he'd feel sorry for me considering he put me in this situation, and by extension, himself but no, all Zayn Leader of the Morons can do is moan about how unfair his life is.

Last time I checked, I'm the one who's been temporarily blinded, not him.

Confused? I'd be extremely surprised if you weren't. Let me better explain everything by starting at the very beginning of this tale.

I was in Chemistry, just minding my own business and being the usual chemistry OCD self of mine that I turned into when faced with an experiment. I say OCD because I have this thing where I need to follow instructions perfectly, down to the last period in a sentence otherwise I flip shit and have to start my experiment all over. This obsessive need of mine is bordering on OCD, it's the reason why I work alone and everyone avoids my table every time I'm working in the lab.

If anyone were to venture into my territory, they'd have to be properly equipped and not be touching anything otherwise they get ignored. It's an unfortunate thing of mine.

The point is, I was focused and concentrated on what I was doing in my chemistry class one day, all alone at my lonely old table and experimenting. Everyone else was fooling around and just causing chaos in general when Mr Malik (oh do shut up you crapwad, your whinging is getting annoying) over here waltzes in half an hour late.

HALF A BLOODY HOUR. LATE.

THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE.

If it weren't for the fact that I'm blind, I would've hidden a bomb in Zayn's room by now as payback for messing up my lab. You think it's funny until you realise I'm not joking.

There must have been a day when I'd pissed off the teacher because there is no other reason that I can come up with why my own teacher would make me partner up with someone. Partner up with someone! Do you know how ridiculous that sounds! I've always been the one in class who gets work done and the results! Why was I being put through this cruel torture!

Had I been Voldemort in my past life? President Snow? Morgana? Okay, those are fictional characters, but the point still stands, had I done something horrible in my past life to have deserved this?

Moving on, Zayn had swaggered his way to my table. No goggles, lab coat, gloves or anything. He just walked over dressed as he was and sat down next to me with his feet up, and in my way. I'd ignored him completely and went on working, walking around him as if he wasn't there at all. No equipment, no attention.

After several minutes of quiet silence, Zayn had given a loud sigh and an obnoxious burp but had done nothing useful but leave a foul stench in the air. He'd just sat in his seat like a bump on a log while I went about my business. I wouldn't have been bothered that he was doing nothing if it hadn't been for the fact that he'd grabbed an almost full graduated cylinder and tipped it back to see what was in it.

It was almost full. The thing was about to spill the substance that was in it all over the floor and set me back by about ten minutes because I'd be trying to clean it up.

"Put that down or so help me God I will stab you in the eye with this scupula and then shove it down your throat," I had said a little too loudly because the entire class had gone quiet. I scowled at them and everyone quickly turned back to their work.

"Someone's a bit touchy," Zayn had said smirking at me. I'd narrowed my eyes at him, snatched the cylinder out of his hands and put it down where it had been before.

"You think it's funny now but you just wait and see how funny it is when I hide an explosive in your room," I said, turning back to my work. Zayn snorted and I couldn't help but smile at how naive he was.

Clearly I'm a maniac. I probably need some serious psychiatric help, which I will get once I hide that explosive.

"Let's have some fun, this is dead boring," Zayn said with a mischievous look on his face. If he touches my work "dead" is exactly what he's going to be.

"Let's not and get out of this class alive, hmm," I replied, slapping his hand away from the bottle of liquid sitting next to me.

I'm not sure how but the next thing I knew, we were arguing with each other over what we should do and what went where. I kept slapping Zayn's hand away but he somehow managed to sneak around me and still manage to pour things into a beaker. I didn't know what he'd added or how much of it he'd added and I didn't know what was going to happen.

"No, put that down, you cannot add that! Look at the colour that it's turned to! That is not healthy! Oh, now it looks like Pepto Bismol. No, don't put it on the hotplate, for the love of-OH MY GOD IT'S BUBBLING! WHY IS IT BUBBLING! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ANYWAY!" I shrieked, as Zayn put the beaker full of Pepto Bismol onto the hotplate. The thing started to bubble and a questionable smell filled the room.

And this is where I went stupid.

I ripped off my goggles and looked down on the substance sitting on the hotplate and watched as it bubbled and rose. I probably should've backed away but I was frozen where I was and watched in horror as something that shouldn't have existed grew.

It happened in a second. The Pepto Bismol grew and grew, until finally it literally exploded all over the place and threw a shower of sparks everywhere. My face got the full blast of everything and the next thing I was aware of was waking up in the hospital wing and totally blind.

I flipped shit to put it simply.

"I can't see, why can't I see? What's happened to me? What's happened to my eyes? Where am I?" I asked, as I whipped my head around as I sat in the hospital bed trying to catch even some light.

"Valerie, calm down -" a familiar voice tried to say soothingly.

"CALM DOWN! I CANNOT FUCKING CALM DOWN! I AM BLIND! WHEN YOU'RE BLIND WE'LL SEE HOW FUCKING CALM YOU ARE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" I screeched loudly. I flailed my arms blindly (do not make that into a joke or so help you God I will kill you) and made contact with something which promptly let out an indignant "ow!"

"Language, Ms Shaw," the matron said to me, as she forced something into my mouth.

"What's wrong with me?" I demanded, looking in the direction that I thought she was standing in. I wasn't exactly sure considering I was blind and all.

"You've been temporarily blinded -"

"By none other than the asshat who told me to calm down no doubt."

"Language, as I was saying, you've been temporarily blinded. Your vision will return to you slowly and eventually you will be able to see again, however, until then, enjoy being blind and having an escort. The Headmistress wants to see both you and Mr Malik, I suggest you get going."

I'd staggered off the bed and after (grudgingly) grabbing hold of Zayn and letting him lead me to the Headmistress' office, I'd sat in a seat next to him (judging from the noises he made) and waited for someone to start talking.

"Ms Shaw, can you hear me?" the Headmistress suddenly spoke. My head swivelled around to where her voice had come from.

"With all due respect Headmistress, I'm blind, not deaf," I said, fidgeting in my seat.

"Alright then, would like anyone like to explain what happened?"

"Zayn Malik happened, everything was going fine until he showed up and started combining random substances together and heated it up. It exploded all over my face and next thing I know, I'm being told I'm blind."

"Mr Malik, do you have a problem following rules?" the Headmistress asked Zayn.

"No -"

"Then I would love to know why you won't follow them. Ms Shaw is blind here because of you and I can assure you that she'll be like this for three to four months, maybe longer. What punishment is good enough for this, do you have a suggestion or should I make one?"

"I don't know," Zayn muttered, and I could hear, if not see that he was ashamed.

"Well, I have one, you will escort Ms Shaw around this school until she gets better. You will be at her side at all times and you will walk her everywhere, you will help her in any way, you will bring her things and find her things, you will do everything that she cannot do even if it includes wiping her nose, understood?"

"Are you kidding me? I have to escort her around until she gets better?! That's not fair!" Zayn exclaimed incredulously. I didn't see why he was so pissed off, I mean he was only escorting around a girl that he'd blinded. I'd say that was pretty fair.

"Oh yeah, I can see how that's punishment, please, let my blind eyes cry some tears for you," I snapped at him angrily.

"Mr Malik, she is blind because of you, it's very fair."

"But-"

"You either escort her or you're expelled. This is literally the only thing that's keeping you in school right now."

"Fine, I'll do it," Zayn muttered, and crossed his arms childishly.

"If I see Ms Shaw around and you are not there with her, you will be out of this school faster than you can say football. Is everything clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good, you may go."

And that is how I ended up blind. And things get worse, much much worse. I can't even change my clothes, let alone comb my hair or go to the washroom.

"Valerie, are you okay?" one of my dormmates asked me as I banged into my dresser and fell to the ground yet again. I was really not helping the bruise already forming on my ribs

"I am perfectly fine," came my muffled voice from the floor.

"Valerie, that's the tenth time you've walked into that stupid dresser!"

"I am fine," I insisted, as I slowly got up from the floor. I waved my arms around trying to find something to hold onto and slowly pulled myself up using the wall.

"I'm helping you," she said, and started making her way towards me.

"No!"

"Would you stop being so damn prideful -"

"I am not a damsel in distress, I can do this-"

"You're blind and you can't even stand straight without falling over -"

"That does not mean I'm in distress-"I stubbornly insisted.

"Valerie, you got out of bed this morning and fell over onto your face, you need help!"

"No!"

"That's it, I'm getting Zayn, you're his problem now," Louisa said, and walked towards the doorway.

"I'm not even dressed!" I shrieked, trying to catch her.

"Well then you should've let me help you," Louisa said, and left the room with me screaming for her blood. I walked into the walls as I tried to find the doorway and fell onto my bed. I tried to run for the door but tripped over a chair and flipped over and fell on my stomach. I let out groan and pushed myself into a sitting position.

"So this is why she said you needed help," a male voice said. I scowled in the general direction of where the voice was coming from.

"Fuck you"


	2. My First Day of Not Seeing

"Don't try to cop a feel shithead or so help you God I will break off your hands," I threatened Zayn. He put his hands on my shoulder and began to guide me to what I was assuming was either a chair or my bed.

  
"Relax Shaw, the very last thing I would want to do is touch your boob," Zayn said chuckling. We'll see how amused you are you bastard when you start choking on your spit after you realise you have to undress me. This was probably the worst part of being blind, the fact that I couldn't even dress myself and had to have someone do it for me. And someone who had put their hands in what were most likely some very suspicious places.

  
"What do you want to wear?" Zayn asked me.

  
"As long as I look okay and not like a prostitute I really couldn't care less," I replied indifferently. There was that damn laughing again. Was my bad luck really that amusing to people. Had I been that big of a bitch to everyone?

  
We'll see how hard Zayn is laughing when I get him expelled. People got expelled for bullying but when I turn blind because of some idiot nothing happens. What kind of justice was this!

  
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt Zayn's hands at the hem of my shirt. I'd accidentally zoned out and the very last thing I'd expected was someone to undress me. If I'd been in any other situation I would've flipped out by now. As it was, I needed help and I wasn't in any position to threaten anyone. 

  
"Would you relax Shaw, it's only me." 

  
"Relax? I'm blind, I can see nothing at all, I'm being undressed by an asshat and said asshat is my guide until I'm better. Would you like to try relaxing in my position?"

  
"Have a little faith won't you?"

  
"I have more faith in a drunk driver getting me home safely than I do you," I replied lifting up my arms so that the shirt could slide over my arms. I had to wait barely a minute before another shirt was sliding on.

  
"What are you doing today?" Zayn asked me as he helped me out of my pyjama bottoms and into a skirt.

  
"Getting you expelled is my current top priority," I said crawling on my hands and knees looking for a pair of shoes. My hands only met high heels though and so my search for something flat took a lot longer than necessary. Why on earth did I have so many heels, I don't understand why I have so many but they were going to be pretty useless for the next few months.

  
"You're just so nice it's astounding," Zayn said sarcastically. I moved my arms around in front of me trying to find him. My hands made contact with something soft and warm. I slowly moved them upwards feeling for a face until I accidentally picked Zayn's nose.

  
"And you've got shit for brains so I guess we both know something about one another now," I gave his cheek two sharp slaps before forcing my feet into a pair of what I was pretty sure were my flats. Using the wall as my support, I felt around my room until I found my school bag.

  
"On the night stand next to my bed, in the first drawer, you will find my timetable. Tell me what I have for today," I said slowly making my way back to my bed. While Zayn went looking through the drawer and messed it up, I attempted to fix my bed sitting down. Organising things isn't easy when you can't see as you've probably already figured out. I almost fell off the bed several times and judging by the sharp edge of my nightstand, I'd almost given myself a concussion as well. Just what I needed, a concussion on top of the fact that I'm blind. I'm sure Ms Poppy would just be thrilled to hear I had a concussion.

  
"You've got Math, Biology, Language Arts and History," Zayn said to me. The drawer was slammed -I was assuming that it was shut. Zayn grabbed my arm and then slowly moved it down to my hand. Once he'd made sure that I was not about to flip out and slap him, he grabbed my other hand.

  
"Okay, now, tell me where your books are," Zayn said to me.

  
"I'm pretty sure I accidentally scattered them around my room so you're going to have to search for them," I replied frowning. Zayn gave a groan of frustration before letting go of my hand and crawling on his hands to find my stuff. I very slowly made my way through my room, using the furniture as my guide and tried to leave. This was my chance to get Zayn expelled, I couldn't blow it or else I'd be stuck with him for who knew how long.

  
"Oh no you don't, you're not ditching me that easily," and before I could even comprehend what was happening, my feet had left the ground. Just by the fact that there was something digging into my stomach and an arm wrapped around my legs, I'm guessing I was being carried fireman style. Just what any girl wants. You'd think I'd have felt the vibrations being caused by Zayn but clearly I'm an idiot.

  
"Damn," there wasn't much that I could do to get out of my position so the only other option that I had was to just hang there. As you can see, this is the most dignified position to ever exist.

  
"Shaw, you're going to have to try a lot harder to get rid of me. I'd pay to see you try and get rid of me while being blind," Zayn said laughing at me. Well excuse me for being unable to run away from you you asshole. "We need to get you to the hospital wing."

  
"Do we have to? Ow!" I added as my book bag knocked into my head. "You could be more careful with me you know, I'm not just a slab of meat."

  
"Yes, we have to go to the hospital wing and would you stop whinging," Zayn said to me. The sound of voices coming towards Zayn and I alerted me to people approaching. I started to wiggle around on Zayn's shoulder trying to slide off but the bastard had one heck of a grip on me.

  
"Would you let me down you git!" I snapped at him. He laughed at my attempt at being even remotely threatening. I would have to modify the way that I terrified people. In my current condition I couldn't very well threaten people with death when I couldn't even see them. Or catch them for that matter either if they decided to run.

  
"Why, so you can stumble your way a few feet from me?" the prick said trying not to laugh. It was nice to know that my shittiness at the moment was amusing people. I felt so accomplished. Nothing like mocking the disabled to make yourself feel better.

  
"No, but there are people coming closer to us and quite frankly I don't want to flash them my knickers. Plus, don't you think our current situation kind of sends the wrong message here?" I heard Zayn sigh before slowly lowering me to the ground. I held on to him as he lowered me and only relaxed my grip when my feet touched the ground.    
We stood there for a minute not moving. I was touching everything that I could so that I could figure out where I was. The moron just stood there not moving his hands from my shoulders and making my life even more difficult.

  
"Is there any particular reason why we're just standing in the hallway like this or is the idea of walking just too complicated now that there's no one on your shoulder?"

  
"Sorry, you were distracting me a little bit," I touched Zayn's cheeks and found that they felt very warm. I would bet all of my savings that he was blushing. The bastard had dressed me up like a hooker hadn't he? I told him not to do that! Now people were going to think I was some street walker. 

  
"What did I tell you about dressing me up as a hooker!" I cried and slapped him the face as hard as I could. 

  
"It's not that, I didn't dress you like that, I don't have a death wish, it's just that your skirt kind of rode up."

  
"So, you put the stupid thing on for me, why are you blushing?" I snapped at him while trying to pull my skirt down and smooth it out. For all I knew I could've been making it worse, it could've been around my ankles and I wouldn't know.

  
"I would prefer to not answer that question," Zayn said. 

  
"Would you at least fix my skirt for me, I've got no idea what I'm doing to it," I said and held out my arms in front of me so that Zayn could get full access to my hips and waist. One side of the skirt was pulled down while the other side was tugged upwards. I felt his hands smooth out my skirt and then slap my butt. If this was some kind of signal that I was good to go, he would need a new one otherwise I was breaking off his hand and feeding it to him.

  
"I'm letting you know right now that there will be no assage in this arrangement," I growled and aimed a swift kick at what I was assuming was his groin. It didn't feel as if my foot had touched any actual family jewels so I guess I'd aimed a little too low.

  
"Aim higher next time and a little more to the left. And assage?" I may not have been able to see the smirk but I could sure as hell hear it. It was one of those times where it was clearly evident that someone was mocking you.

  
"Assage means that there will be no touching of my ass, no speaking of it in any way or form and no staring at it. Got it? If you need a way to let me know that I'm good to go, either tap my arm or pat my back."

  
"And what happens if I break that rule?"

  
"You will find that your body will show up in a ditch in pieces, understood?" 

  
"I see you two are getting along well then," came the unmistakeable voice of my Headmistress. I jumped a foot in the air and spun around trying to locate her. Bad idea. I may not have seen anything but something was definitely spinning. Zayn managed to catch me before I hit the ground however so I was safe from any further embarrassment. 

  
"And where are you two off to this lovely morning?" Isn't it nice how some people can be just so damn pleasant when you're feeling like absolute shit. It's like they decide to have a perfect day and rub it in your face while you feel like Satan is sitting on his fucking throne and laughing at your misfortune. 

  
That's right, I'm on to you you bastard. You just wait until I get my hands on you.   
"Is it a pleasant morning? I wouldn't know because, you see, I'M BLIND," I replied. Ah sarcasm, how I love you.

  
"I can see you're going to be a joy to be around for the next few months, have a good day," the headmistress said and soon her footsteps were getting fainter and fainter until I could no longer hear her. Well, it's nice to know that even my head of school doesn't want to be around me.

  
"Alright, let's haul ass and get down to the damn hospital wing," I snarled and with a death grip on Zayn's arm we slowly made our way to the room of torture. We would've gotten there sooner if Zayn had just agreed to carry me but I think he was afraid he'd get cooties.

  
Ms Poppy didn't exactly like me, in fact, she wasn't fond of me at all. It wasn't that much of a surprise really, very few people actually liked me but I digress. It wasn't because I ended up in the hospital wing all the time with various injuries or something like that. No, she hated me because of the amount of people that I myself put in the hospital wing.

  
In my defence, people needed to stop pissing me off.

  
Poppy was more than happy to see me in the hospital wing. I'm sure she's just been dying to try out all of her torture devices on me. Payback for the amount of work that I gave her. At least I kept her busy and she wasn't bored … then again, I did spend most of the schools money on more medicine and such.

  
"Ms Shaw, I see we're back here this morning! And how are we today?"

  
"Which version do you want, clean or explicit?"

  
"I'd rather not know either version, I was referring to your vision. Can you see anything, anything at all?"

  
"Let me put it this way, if I could make out any kind of shape or form, I would not be the one sitting on this hospital bed getting looked at. You'll know when I can see, Sir Douche of the Douchbags over here will have a black eye and a seriously injured manhood."

  
"I would suggest running from her when she can see again Mr Malik," Poppy said and if I didn't know any better I would've thought she might've elbowed Zayn in the ribs. It just seemed like an appropriate gesture to go with the speech.

  
"Your advice is to always run," Zayn replied chuckling and slapping me on the back hard. I scowled and pushed his arm off of my shoulders. If he kept that slapping up any longer I'd end up coughing up my intestines. 

  
"And it was good advice that you should've taken when you broke up with Ms Shaw's cousin," my head snapped towards Poppy's voice. So he was the fuckwad that broke up with my annoying cousin and caused me to spend countless hours comforting her when really I didn't care.

  
He was the reason why I spent the majority of my vacations consoling my cousin instead of being out by myself.

  
"YOU'RE THE REASON WHY I HAD TO LISTEN TO HER CONSTANT WHINGING WHENEVER I WAS HOME FOR HOLIDAYS!" I yelled loudly. "If it weren't for the fact that you were my guide, I swear to Lucifer there would be a pack of rabid dogs feeding on your balls right now."

  
"Alright Ms Shaw, let's leave your private life for another time, we need to do a check up on you," Poppy said briskly. I opened my mouth to protest but closed it again deciding that it wasn't worth it and that it was far too early to start arguing.

  
She checked my blood pressure, checked my breathing, shone a light in my eye and asked me a series of personal questions to make sure my memory was still intact. It sounded like I was perfectly normal -nothing out of the ordinary- except for the minor problem of being blind.

  
"Ms Shaw if I could speed this process up, I would but I have no idea what Mr Malik did to cause this and it's impossible for me to create anything to help with it. The best I can tell you at the moment is to drink lots of fluids so that you can wash out any of whatever it is that you might have swallowed and such."

  
Oh yeah, that made perfect sense. I'll just pee a lot to get out whatever is in my eye. Someone revoke Poppy's license in medicine please!

  
"And my eyes?" I asked cocking my head to the side.

  
"I've been talking to some doctors and they recommended some things so I was thinking we could try some of the treatments. Of course, we're first going to try just letting things happen and see if you get better."

  
"I guess it's better than nothing," I sighed in defeat and slumped on my hospital bed.

  
"I will see you in a week from now Ms Shaw, only come and see me if something changes between now and when we meet next," I nodded my head to show that I understood. I was released a few minutes later and with the help of Zayn, I slowly made my way down to breakfast and to Louisa. She'd ditched me this morning and hadn't bothered coming to look for me since. I could've been dead for all she knew.

  
Then again, knowing everyone in this school they'd probably have a fiesta or something if I wasn't here.

  
When we walked into the Dinner Hall I could feel the stares boring into me. And then whispers came. Everyone was whispering about how Valerie Shaw, notorious know-it-all and firecracker was found on the arm of jackass Zayn Malik. I hope people didn't think that I was actually next to him because of my free will.

  
If anything, he was being forced on to me. I didn't want Zayn as my escort, I had the same classes as Louisa, she could've taken me to wherever we needed to be. I think teachers get some kind of good feeling out of torturing their students.

  
"OW!" I cried as pain shot from my knee and to the rest of my leg. My hand immediately went to where I'd gotten hit and started rubbing it. If anything, I'm pretty sure I was making it hurt even more.

  
"What kind of guide are you!" I cried as I felt along the table and grabbed for some support. With one hand holding the table, the other slowly moved down until I finally touched the bench. I lowered myself onto the bench and swung my legs over it one at a time.

  
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Zayn said sheepishly. I felt along the table looking for some eating utensils but found none. Once I touched something long, smooth and cold, my hand immediately closed around it and picked it up. Someone else however gripped my hand so tightly I dropped whatever I was holding in surprise.

  
The hand was big and warm so I was assuming that this belonged to a boy and because no boy came near me but one, I was going to assume that it was Zayn. I pried his fingers off of my wrist and flexed it to get the blood flowing again. Jeez, you'd think I was about to cut the wrong wire on a bomb or something.

  
"What was that for?!"

  
"You were holding a knife, do you really want me to explain why I did that or can you figure it out on your own."

  
"Point taken, at least I got you to stop ogling whatever girl you were drooling after," I replied.

  
"Girl, what girl?"

  
"Oh please, you're not stupid, I know you would've stopped me from walking into that bench. The only thing that would distract you would be a girl. So what does she have? Big boobs? Long legs? Short skirt? Low-cut top?"

  
"Big boobs, open your mouth, I'm feeding you," he added and poked my lips with food. I swatted his hand away before obediently opening my mouth for the food. He shoved the fork in my mouth and barely waited for me to bite down before pulling it out again.

  
This could work to my advantage. Besides being blind and Zayn being my guide, I had it going good. The boy was basically my bitch, he did everything for me that I couldn't do. If he didn't help me he got expelled. If he wasn't with me, he got expelled.

  
Oh look, I've just gained my own personal slave. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

  
But I wasn't taking him to the washroom. I don't care what the rules or consequences were, I was peeing without an audience.

  
"Drink," Zayn ordered and poured something into my mouth. I attempted to swallow whatever I was being given but it tasted so horrible that even if you'd paid me I wouldn't have been able to swallow the drink.

  
Without even thinking about it I sprayed the drink out of my mouth. And judging by the sound that was being made by a certain someone, I'd sprayed it all over them. Two birds with one stone. Score.

  
"I take it you didn't like it?" Zayn asked me rustling some napkins.

  
"It tasted like shit," was my sweet reply. "You know what, why don't you go off and do something until breakfast is over. Hang out with your friends, sacrifice small animals, destroy the dreams of children, you know, all of that stuff that you do in your free time. I've got Louisa here with me, she'll take good care of me until you get back."

  
"But I have to -"

  
"Yes yes, I know, you have to stay with me but you deserve a break. Go on, shoo!" I said cheerily and attempted a slap on the back. Considering that I didn't know where his shoulder was, I may have ended up patting Zayn's head or smacking his face.

  
"If you're sure …" Zayn said uncertainly.

  
"I'm positive," and with a soft breeze, Zayn was gone. I smacked my hand along the edge of the table until I felt a feminine hand. This must have been Louisa, it couldn't possibly be anyone else. No one else in this school has the patience to deal with me.

  
"Louisa?"

  
"Yes?"

  
"Can you do me a favour?"

  
"You want me to follow him, don't you?" she asked me calmly. She acted like I asked her to do stuff like this all time. It was a complete lie, I wasn't so bored that I convinced my only friend to stalk people with me just for the heck of it. Although there was that time … and then there was that other time … and there was that girl.

  
Never mind, I did ask her to help me follow people around. It's safe to say that I'm officially the worlds biggest creeper.

  
"Yes please."

  
"Alright, I'll see where he goes."

  
"Call me when you find him! I want to hear everything that happens!" I yelled after Louisa as she got up from her seat and walked past me.

  
"WAIT! CAN YOU PUT MY PHONE IN MY HAND!" I cried as loudly as I could. Louisa's sigh was so loud I could hear it from where I was sitting. The sound of papers being crinkled met my ears as Louisa looked through my bag. She shoved my phone into my hand -rather aggressively I might add- before storming off. The vibrations that I felt through my shoes were a big indication of how Louisa was most likely feeling towards me.

  
Who cared if I missed breakfast, I wanted to see if Zayn got busted and expelled. My grip on my phone was so tight it was a miracle I hadn't broken the thing by now. It took so long for Louisa to actually call me, I just assumed she wasn't even following Zayn and had instead simply ditched me.

  
There was no need to worry however because call me she did and I answered on the second ring. My thumb had been positioned over the answer button the entire time I'd been sitting at the table. Even if it hadn't been ready I'd had eventually managed to answer the phone. I'd answered my cellphone for so long now that I didn't even look down at what I was doing whenever it started to ring.

  
That is skill right there.

  
"Louisa, did you find him?" I asked holding the phone to my ear.

  
"Yeah, I found him. He moves fast for a bugger, took me a while to come across the right corridor and even then it was only by accident."

  
"What's he doing?"

  
"Nothing interesting, mostly wandering around, quite a boring bloke now that I think about it. Oh, wait, I think things are about to get interesting," Louisa said. The excitement was evident in her voice and I never thought I would be so jealous of someone in my life. I pressed the phone harder to my ear, as if that would enable me to hear more of what was going on.

  
"What's happening?" I asked beginning to bounce in my seat. 

  
"The Headmistress has just made an appearance. I repeat, our head of school has just made an appearance. He is so busted," Louisa said. It sounded as if it was taking everything in her power to not start cackling like a mad woman and clapping her hands. The grin spreading across my face was impossible to stop. Maybe I would finally get my wish of getting Zayn expelled. 

  
Can you just imagine how nice it would be to not have a safety hazard walking around the school.

  
"I moved closer so that we can hear what she's saying," Louisa whispered into the phone. Everything was quiet on the other end of the line save for Louisa's breathing.

  
"Mr Malik, may I ask what exactly you are doing?" came the sound of our Headmistresses stern voice. It wasn't difficult to imagine what Zayn must've looked like at the moment. Deathly pale and terrified were the first things to come to mind.

  
"Erm, walking," even I groaned at that answer. Nothing would piss off our head of school more than an answer like that. She didn't always take well to the way that teenagers responded to things.

  
"I can see that, and where is Ms Shaw?" He was going to get it, he was going to get it good. Do you hear that? That's the sound of sweet revenge right there.

  
"Eating breakfast," Zayn stuttered pathetically.

  
"And who is feeding her? Who is cutting her food?"

  
"She had that roommate of hers Louisa there, and she told me that she didn't need me."

  
"Mr Malik, maybe I didn't make myself clear. You are to escort Ms Shaw anywhere and everywhere she wishes or needs to go. You are to hold, guide and do whatever she cannot. The only times you are not around her are when she is asleep or in the washroom. Never once in all of that did I say that you were around her whenever it suited her or you.

  
"I do not care if her mother is there, you Mr Malik are the one in charge of Ms Shaw until she can take care of herself again. Is that clear?"

  
"Yes ma'am," Zayn mumbled.

  
"If you are not back by Ms Shaw's side by the time that I get to the Dinner Hall, you will be kicked out of this building immediately. You will call someone to come and pick you up from your cellular or you will hike home, your choice. Got it?"

  
"Yes ma'am."

  
"Good, now I suggest you get going. You'd be surprised at how many shortcuts this school has."

  
Everything was silent on the other end again. I most likely looked like a madwoman but I didn't care. That is the best thing that I've heard in a while. That entire conversation just made my entire year.

  
"Did you get all of that?" Louisa asked me.

  
"Each and every single beautiful word. It was like music to my ears," I replied sighing. It only took one try for my elbow to find the table this time. I was about to start daydreaming about what it would be like if Zayn got expelled when Satan himself showed up.

  
Well speak of the devil.

  
"Are you insane?" Zayn hissed at me and squeezed his hold on my biceps. Louisa was right, he does move incredibly fast.

  
"Uh, Louisa, I'm going to have to call you back," I said into the phone before hanging up. I'd barely managed to get the thing in my bag before I was being dragged out of my seat by my right arm.

  
Zayn dragged me out into the hallway and shoved me into the wall. He wasn't exactly the most gentle person around as you can probably tell. Way to be a dick to the blind girl, that's going to earn you brownie points from people.

  
We'll just conveniently forget that I tried to get Zayn expelled and almost succeeded.

  
"Look, I don't know what your life is like or what shit you're going through but I'm pretty sure that whatever it is does not justify you being a bitter bitch. I cannot get expelled from this school, okay, I can't. That is not an option for me. I'm sorry for blinding you, okay. I am genuinely sorry for doing that and I will make it up to you any way I can. I will only put up with your shit for so long though. I promise you, if you ever come close to destroying my life like that one more time, just remember, I don't care if you are blind or a girl, I will get back at you."

  
And with that, I was dragged off to my first class of the day. Things just got grim. What on earth was he talking about me screwing up his life? What was going on in his life?    
I think it's time that I break out the black clothing for Louisa and I. I have a feeling that we're going to be needing them. After all, if you're going to commit a crime you should do it the right away.

  
I hope our headmistress doesn't mind people breaking into her office.

  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  
Let's put it this way, today was a freaking nightmare. I don't think I've ever had a day that's sucked so much in my entire life. Don't get me wrong, Zayn tried his best to help me out in class but he wasn't much use. I'm sure he was very good at the classes that he has but he's just not made for the ones that I have.

  
Math was a nightmare, I was one of those people that had to see the equation. And because Zayn seemed to be a complete dunce at Math, he had to read out everything for me one by one. 

  
In Biology he messed up our entire project and we had to restart the whole thing. We never got to finish the thing because we ran out of time. The teacher didn't blame me, no she blamed Zayn. That entire class I was bored out of my mind because I was forced to sit out and do nothing. It's safe to say that everyone knew that was a bad idea. 

  
Language Arts was better and that was mostly due to the fact that Zayn couldn't do anything wrong. He was the most annoying person however because he would not stop talking. The entire class he would not shut up! It was practically impossible to listen to the teacher because he wouldn't shut up! I had to slam my foot down on his repeatedly to get him to shut up.

  
And History, well, I was pretty sure I was going to be failing History. Zayn knew absolutely nothing about anything and the teacher had to keep reading everything out loud for me. You could tell that he really hated doing it and probably blamed me for what he was doing.

  
It was a relief to finally be rid of Zayn at the end of the day. I was sprawled on my bed staring up at what I was pretty sure was the ceiling when Louisa came skipping in.   
"Praise the Lord! You're finally back! I couldn't take it anymore, the bloke is going to drive me insane by the end of the bleeding week! YOU NEED TO HELP ME! HE DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING! You need to keep me company during the weekend!"

  
"Sorry, I can't, I've got a date this weekend," Louisa said and launched herself at my bed. I flew through the air and then landed on the floor with a thud. So I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Louisa is excited.

  
"Fucking hell, why don't you just beat me with a chair, it'll be the equivalent of what I'm feeling right now," I groaned. Slowly I made my way back onto the bed, gripping the covers so that I wouldn't fall over.

  
"I'm so excited!" Louisa squealed and slapped my arm repeatedly. I scooted away from her and rubbed my arm to stop the hurting while glaring at my only friend. For all I know I could've been staring at the wall.

  
"That's lovely, can you do that while not leaving a bruise on my arm please?" 

  
"You have to help me pick out my outfit!" Louisa exclaimed bouncing on my bed. My arms immediately went out to my side to keep me from falling over.

  
"I'd love to except for two things. One, I'm blind," I replied pointing to my eyes.

  
"And the second?"

  
"You have to help me break into the Headmistresses office or no help."

  
"I really hate you sometimes."


	3. Breaking and Entering

"Those aren't the right bloody shoes!" I hissed as Louisa tried to shove on a shoe that was a lot smaller than the size of my foot. I never thought that there would ever be anyone who had smaller feet than me. I was five foot seven with size four feet in the children's section. I was made fun of for having leprechaun feet a lot when I had entered Year 7.

"Do you want to break into the Headmistress's office or not?" Louisa grunted back at me as she tugged off the small shoe, falling over in the process.

"Isn't that why we're going through this?"

"Then shut. Up," and then she lobbed said shoe at me and hit me in the forehead. That was going to bruise, I could just feel it. She made sure that I was sitting upright and then attacked me. I was about to start hitting out at random before I realized that Louisa wasn't actually attacking me, she was just pulling a shirt over my head. She forced my arms through the holes as roughly as she could.

"Is it a black shirt?" I asked her, as my hands felt around my torso, trying to figure out which shirt of mine I was wearing. It was useless however because there was absolutely no design on the shirt to give me an idea of which piece of clothing of mine it was.

"Yes."

"Are you sure, I want to blend in with the night."

"Valerie, I promise you, the shirt is as black as your soul."

Well, there was no need to be quite that dramatic. It had been a hassle to dress me, I knew that much. Louisa had to slap me and whisper yell at me and push me around quite a bit to get me to cooperate. I wasn't the biggest fan of letting people manhandle me, especially given the fact that I couldn't see the person.

I know, Louisa was my friend and she would never hurt me . . . most of the time -I'm convinced that there are days where she would have no qualms about letting me give myself a concussion- but you could never be too careful.

"You're ready to go," she said and patted me on the back.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I cried, blindly reaching out for her. My hands landed on something soft and squishy and I just prayed to God that I had not just grabbed Louisa's boob. "Is that your arm?"

"You're lucky it is."

"Okay, I need your back to be facing me," I told her as I pulled myself closer to Louisa. I moved my hand up her arm, across her shoulder, up her neck and felt around her face. I let out a yelp when her teeth bit down on my palm.

I slowly turned her around and touched the back of her hair just to make sure that it was in fact her hair and not her face. I planted my hands on Louisa's shoulders and then used them to push off the ground and hop on her back. She let out a shriek as I attempted to wrap my legs around her waist and my arms around her neck.

We staggered around the room for a few moments, my hips and elbows making painful contact with various sharp edges and Louisa jostling me with her flailing limbs. I could only assume that she was trying to get me off of her considering the fact that kept clawing at my hands.

And then she hit a wall.

Literally, a wall.

She walked into it head first, her head bounced back and hit me in the face while my hands and feet gave a loud crack as they were quickly crushed and then released. Louisa and I both crashed to the floor, me cushioning Louisa's fall.

"What the fucking hell are you doing?" she finally gasped, her chest rising and falling. My hands still hadn't left her neck.

"Hitching a piggyback ride."

"To the Headmistress's office? Are you insane, the room is across the bloody school! I'm not carrying you that far!" Louisa cried and untangled my limbs so that she could get up.

"Well then how are we going to get there? By crawling because that's the only thing I'll be able to do," I replied from my position on the floor. I very very slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position. The darkness was still disorientating, it didn't brighten or darken to tell me where the light was coming from, it didn't feel like the room was spinning.

Just nothing.

How did people deal with nothing for their entire lives? How could they just go about seeing nothing and seeing no difference without going insane?

"I'm not carrying you Valerie," Louisa said with a note of finality.

 

 

"For someone so small you weigh a lot, holy shit Valerie," Louisa panted out as she hurried across campus in the dark with me clinging to her back.

If security passed by or if any professors decided that tonight was a good night to look at the stars or wax poetic nonsense by the light of the moon, we would be totally and completely fucked. I couldn't imagine what answers Louisa and I would possibly be able to come up with to any questions that we might've been asked.

Honesty was the best policy but confessing about breaking and entering into the Heads office was going to do more harm than good honestly.

"I honestly don't know why I agreed to do this," Louisa grunted as she tossed me around on her back a little bit to make herself more comfortable.

"It was either this or have to explain to our RA why my body was found at the bottom of a set of stairs with my neck broken," I replied.

"There was a third option and that's how about we don't break and enter," Louisa grunted as we slowly got closer to the building at the end of campus property little by little.

"Why are you so focused on this Zayn character? Let him serve you until you can see and then dump the boy, you won't ever have to speak him again."

"That's exactly what I plan on doing but I need to know who's working for me first. The boy sounds and acts like a total psychopath sometimes. I need to know if he has a criminal record," I replied with a shrug of my shoulders.

I had slumped against Louisa's back but jerked back in surprise and almost brought the two of us down when something buzzed next to my ear. I tried not to let out a blood curdling scream and instead swatted at whatever was trying to get into my brain through my eardrums frantically.

I didn't even know what I was flapping my hand at, it could've been a fly or it could've been a wasp, I wouldn't know because I couldn't see.

Louisa finally came to a stop. I tightened my grip on her some more when I felt my body tipping forwards. I was worried that I had worked her to death or something and now she was going to fall over with me on top of her. As it turned out, Louisa was only resting against a wall.

"Valerie, you're going to have to walk from here, I want to carry you, trust me, I do but if you force me to piggyback you up all those flights of stairs, they're going to find two bodies with their necks broken because I'll have fallen down," Louisa said out of breath. She dropped whatever weight of mine she was holding with her legs and I went crashing to the ground.

I tried to stick out my legs as quickly as I could but I had tangled them up far too well  and I ended up on my backside with pebbles digging into the back of my head and along my spine and dirt mixing into my hair.

"Sorry," Louisa muttered and tugged on my hand to let me know that she was going to pull me up. I held onto her arm as I slowly got to my feet and let her dust off my hair and my arse.

She grabbed my hand and gently led me over to the doorway. I heard the squeak of the hinges as Louisa pulled open what I knew to be a wooden door and gently guided me into the building. The door shut with another squeak and I was surrounded by silence save for Louisa's breathing.

It was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop, except for the ground under my feet, it felt like I was floating in space.

Louisa pulled me along and finally rested my left hand on a railing and let go. She grabbed a hold of my right biceps to guide me up the stairs and to make sure that I didn't fall in case I tripped or slipped.

We began the slow climb up the stairs to the very top of the building. My legs lifted impossibly slowly and it took me forever to go up one step because I was terrified of missing a step and falling forwards. The majority of the night was spent going up the stairs to be perfectly honest. After about five minutes it started to feel like the stairs were never going to end.

Of course the Headmistresses office was at the very top of the building and on the other side of campus, it was specifically designed to slow down any intruders, although you'd think the security guards and the large amount of staff and students would be enough.

For God's sake, we had a foods room full of knives and then we had a Culinary Arts class, not to mention a cafeteria stocked with knives and frozen meat and a band room full of heavy instruments. You wouldn't really want to attack this school.

Louisa and I didn't say anything the entire time that we were climbing the stairs, although perhaps we should have because it might've made the time go by a lot faster and it might've even spurred me to climb at a faster pace.

Louisa's hands were getting hotter and sweatier by the minute while the hand of mine that was stuck to the railing felt raw from all of the sliding. I wasn't someone that got sweaty hands so I had a good solid grip on things all the time. It wasn't always the greatest because sometimes it felt like the skin on my palms was being ripped off.

"Louisa are we almost at the top," I finally asked her after awkward minutes of just silent climbing.

"We're not even halfway yet Valerie. We would've reached the top by now if you would just step it up a fucking notch," Louisa added waspishly and I could just feel her eyes glaring at the side of my face. I would've much rather taken three hours and gotten to the top safely rather than take half an hour and arrive at the top crying and traumatized for the rest of my life. But considering the fact that I was depriving Louisa of precious sleep, and dragging her into potential expulsion, she had every right to bitchy.

Eventually we did reach the very top of the building. Louisa informed me that it wasn't as dark outside as when we had left the dorm. She could've just told me that it was morning because what colour the outside world was meant literally nothing to me because I couldn't see it.

What I did care about was the matter of breaking and entering. Louisa put my hands against the wall while she dealt with what was probably a locked door. All I had as a companion for the next few seconds was the smooth cool wall under my hands and a solid floor.

I could hear the clicking that Louisa was making as she tried to pick the lock. When I found out that Louisa knew how to pick locks, it was on a day that I decided I need to spend outside and then when I came home at the end of the night, I'd gone up the stairs to my room and when I opened the door, there was Louisa lounging on my bed with her feet up against my wall and reading through my ratty copy of Pride and Prejudice.

She was the picture of absolute coolness sitting in my room like that. I remembered how my jaw had dropped when I caught sight of her but she didn't even bother explaining, she just acted like it was an everyday occurrence. I hadn't even gotten out one word before she'd popped her gum loudly and told me that the doors were closed.

And then she'd told me that my secret stash of romance novels was absolutely embarrassing.

I hadn't bothered asking where she'd learned how to pick locks and we came to an unspoken agreement that I kept my mouth shut about the business and she didn't send photos to everyone in the school about the fact that I was a closet romantic. Now she never bothered knocking when she came over and my parents never cared either.

She'd just burst in some days, yell hello to my parents and then climb the stairs two at a time to my room and drag me out for ice-cream or something. There were days where she'd climb the tree next to my bedroom window and push me over in my bed so that she could sleep with me.

It got to the point where I always kept my hand on an extra pillow just in case Louisa showed up. My parents never asked how she got in or why she was even in my room; they just served her breakfast and then sent her on her way when she was finished.

"Almost got it," Louisa said to me but I almost missed what she said entirely because of the pain that was splitting through my head. It had come out of nowhere, one second I was fine and the next it was like someone was driving a spike through my head.

I let go of the wall and buried my hands in my hair, tugging at the roots in the hope that it would make the pain go away. It didn't go away, if anything it just got worse, I could barely think because I was focusing so much of my energy into enduring what was going on in my head. My eyes closed with a squelch and I realized that tears were leaking out of my eyes and horrible heaving sounds were coming from my mouth.

The darkness behind my eyelids wasn't all that different from when my eyes were open. As soon as I shut my eyes however, the pain seemed to dim enough for me to think properly. My hands came out of my hair and I could feel them shaking as I moved them around and looked for something that I could hold onto.

I touched the dusty floor and then moved my hands around and came into contact with the corner where the wall met the ground. I had sunk to my knees without realizing it.

Louisa's grip on my shoulders was downright painful and only then could I actually understand that she was talking to me, probably had been the entire time but I hadn't noticed.

"Are you okay? Do you need me to go and get the nurse?" Louisa asked in a voice that was bordering on hysterical. My hands went on a search to find hers and once I did, I closed my fingers around her bony wrists.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it's not as bad as it was before," I replied and in fact, the longer that I kept my eyes closed, the better I was getting.

After another few seconds of deep breathing, I decided that I could probably open my eyes and I would be fine. I took one final deep breath and then open my eyes. The pain came back in full force and worse than ever. It felt like it was coming from my retinas, spreading across the front of my forehead and going all the way to the back of my brain.

But something was different.

Instead of total darkness in front of my eyes, there were colours, all kinds of colours, every single colour from the rainbow and then a few shades. Everything was spinning out of control, it was like a kaleidoscope but nothing was beautiful and fun. It felt like the world around me was probably falling over itself and into pieces along with my vision and my mind.

I felt like I was about to go insane if it didn't stop soon.

"Close your eyes Valerie!" Louisa's shriek managed to pierce its way through the madness that was being created by my own mind. I didn't stop to think about her instructions, my eyes just snapped shut and with it, the pain went away. It was completely silent in the empty corridor, I felt like the world was holding its breath to see what would happen.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine now," I replied hoarsely. Louisa squeezed my shoulder and went back to picking the lock. There was no doubt in my mind that what she wanted to do more than anything was to take me back to our dorm and force me to go to sleep. I didn't want to be here either anymore.

The curiosity had gone right out of me, I didn't care about Zayn's story and I didn't care about why he acted the way that he did. I just didn't care. Whatever he had going on was not my problem and I wanted no part of it. All I wanted to do was just curl up and go to sleep right here on the cold, hard floor. I wanted to make sure that my eyes wouldn't open again and what better way to do that than to go to sleep.

But I couldn't just give up. Louisa had struggled all this way; we had to go through with it because I refused to admit time and energy wasted on something. If I was going to put this much effort into something, I was going to finish it.

"Aha!" Louisa said triumphantly. The door banged against the wall lightly as she pushed it open and dragged me to my feet. She pulled me a few steps and then abandoned me once my feet had gone from the hardwood floor of the corridor to what I assumed was the carpet of the office.

I could hear Louisa walking around the room and shuffling through things on bookshelves and tables and pulling out drawers. There would be cursing and then she would make a sound of awe and then move on. I slowly made my way to a chair.

I stuck out my arms in front of me and slowly stepped forward one foot at a time and swung my arms around to make sure that there was in fact no chair around me that I was missing. I finally managed to find a chair and lower myself into it as gently as I could.

It was the most uncomfortable fucking chair to ever exist. It was made of wood with a stiff seat and a ramrod straight back that made it impossible to slouch. I couldn't cross my legs on it or throw them over one side because it was too small and would only make me even more uncomfortable.

"You could try and help you know," Louisa said to me from somewhere in the room.

"Do what exactly? I'm blind and I can't even open my eyes now without my head wanting to split in two. I am useless to you," I snapped back. I wasn't in the best of moods at the moment considering my lack of sleep and the bitching headache that was slowly building. I guess Louisa and I were in our own personal hells now.

Louisa gave a huff of frustration from somewhere behind me but she didn't push the matter. I was right, I was completely and utterly useless to her at the moment, the most that I could do was simply stay out of her way and let her snoop around as best as she could.

"I found the student records!" Louisa finally hissed at me in excitement. I flapped my arms and waited for her to lead me over to the files. She pulled me up impatiently and practically dragged my body over to it instead of guiding me.

Louisa let go of my hand and began to file through each name. She skipped through most of them fairly quickly but there would be the occasional file that would catch her eye and she would stop to no doubt read it. I got impatient waiting for the swoosh and scrape that each file gave as it was shoved to the front.

"Jesus Christ Valerie, your file is really big," Louisa said in shock.

"What do you mean it's huge?" I asked her worriedly.

"There are countless notes on here about the ridiculous amount of detentions that you've had, and reports of blowups in the chemistry labs and physical injuries from gym that you gave yourself and harmful students. The amount of people you've sent to the hospital is truly amazing," Louisa said and she flipped over paper after paper, taking an agonizingly long time to read through each one.

"Can we please move on!" I finally burst out impatiently. She grunted in annoyance but shoved my file back into place and kept looking. I was practically bouncing on the spot from the excitement of looking through Zayn's file. My lip was a chewed up mess and I would probably have wrinkles on my forehead tomorrow but I didn't care.

There's just something about invading people's privacy that just gets you excited and makes your life seem much more interesting.

"Found it!" Louisa exclaimed and the sound of a file scraping against another of its kind met my ears as Louisa pulled out information about the person responsible for me.

"Thank God," I replied with a sigh of relief. My shoulders dropped in liberation. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulder.

"What's it say?" I pressed after a moment of Louisa not offering up any information whatsoever.

"Nothing all that interesting honestly. Basic stuff, medical conditions, family members, age, place of birth, school record. One younger sister, lives with his mum in a tiny flat apparently so he's probably not all that materialistic I guess, and he's Muslim but you don't care about religion so that's irrelevant," Louisa added and I nodded in agreement. "He hasn't got any medical problems so he doesn't take any medications. His past school record is not only clean but actually pretty impressive. Hasn't done drugs, alcohol, and no criminal record. He was on the school football team, field hockey team, track team, debate club, speech club, volunteer club. This boy is golden right now, besides your accident; he has never been in much trouble before in his life. He is what every university is looking for. Oh, and he has the occasional detention for late or unfinished assignments but nothing serious."

Louisa sounded like she could've gone on and on about his achievements but she stopped suddenly. I wrung my hands as I waited for her to tell me what she'd found. If it was big enough to shut up Louisa then it must've been something huge.

"Well, what is it?" I asked with a slap to Louisa's arm.

"This is interesting," she said in a low voice.

"What is?"

"Zayn is here on scholarship," Louisa said. I frowned, what was so big about that? It was just a scholarship, lots of people went to school with scholarships, and it wasn't exactly breaking news or anything.

"So what?"

"Valerie, no one in this school is here on scholarship because everyone here can afford to pay for the tuition. Anyone that's here on scholarship doesn't have the money to pay to be here. I know that this isn't much to go on but chances are that Zayn's family might not always have enough money to pay the bills or put food on the table all the time, if he were well off enough then he could pay to go to this school instead of using their scholarship then his sister would be here with him but it's only him. Valerie, you can't ruin his life," Louisa said.

And I had a feeling that she was going to fight me on it.

**Author's Note:**

> i would just like to say that my knowledge of chemistry does not extend past high school (at least not yet) and that i'm fairly certain there is no substance out there that does what happens in this story, but for the sake of fiction, we'll pretend that there is.


End file.
